As soon as the light had been noticed, the slaves had been ordered to cease rowing, and they were now told that they would not be required again for fully two hours.  When the first gleam of dawn appeared in the east they were called to their work again.  The lantern was still burning, and, in a quarter of an hour, the knights on the poop were able, in the broadening light, to make out three shadowy forms some two miles ahead of them.  They decreased this distance by more than half before they could discern any signs of life or motion on board.  Then a sudden stir was apparent; they could hear shouts from one vessel to another, oars were thrust out, and an effort made to get the heads of the ships in the same direction, so as to catch the light breeze that had just sprung up.

The moment he saw that the galley was discovered, Gervaise shouted down to the slaves to row their hardest, and told the pilot to steer for the ship farthest to the east.  She was some four or five hundred yards from her nearest consort, and the same distance separated that vessel from the third craft.

“We shall have time to carry her, Ralph, before the others come to her assistance, and they will only arrive one at a time.  If we were to lie alongside the middle craft, which is probably that of the chief, as it is she that has the light burning, we might have the other two upon us before we had done with her, for she is evidently the largest, and most likely the strongest handed, of them.”

The leader of the pirates evidently saw that there was no chance of evading the fight.  A flag was run up to the masthead of his ship, and the three vessels began to endeavour to turn, so as to meet the galley.  The operation, however, took some time.  In the confusion, orders were misunderstood, and instead of all the slaves on one side rowing whilst those on the other side backed, all order was lost, and long before the craft for which the galley was making had got round, the latter was upon her.

“Shall I ram her, Sir Gervaise?” the pilot asked.

“No; we might damage ourselves; besides, I do not want to sink her.  Sheer away the oars on one side!”

The galley carried eight guns —­ three on each side of the poop, and two forward; and these had been loaded with small pieces of iron.  A few shots had been fired by the pirates, but, owing to the confusion that prevailed on board, the guns were discharged so hurriedly that the shot either flew overhead or passed wide of the galley.  Excited as the young knights were, and eager for the fray, a general laugh broke out as the galley swept along by the pirate ship, breaking many of her oars, and hurling all the slaves who manned them backwards off their benches.  A moment later the guns poured their iron contents among the pirates who clustered thickly on the forecastle and poop, and as the vessels grated together the knights sprang on board the corsair.